Quartz is made by binding crushed stone with resin, which gives every slab a uniform look and makes seams easier to hide. It never needs sealing. Beside a window that takes the afternoon sun, though, the resin can discolor after years of exposure, and granite usually holds up better there.
Granite Countertops in Dallas, TX
Granite picked in person, cut for your cabinets
Granite countertops in Dallas suit kitchens that get strong sun most of the year. Natural stone keeps its color beside a west-facing window and takes heat from the range, while resin-based surfaces can mark or yellow over time.
The tradeoff is that no two granite slabs match. Two slabs sold under one stone name can differ in tone and veining, so a sample chip rarely shows how a long island will look.
At Cabinet IQ of Dallas, you compare granite at our Design District showroom on Irving Boulevard, by appointment, holding your cabinet door against the stone. The crew that designs and hangs your cabinets cuts and sets the granite in house too, so your stone and the boxes beneath it follow one schedule.
Granite countertops by project
Dallas granite jobs range from one new island to a full remodel that a designer or builder is running. Two things decide the plan early: what the stone rests on, and when that base will be ready.
Every kitchen is drawn in 3D with the granite you’re considering, so you can see how a busy slab looks against your cabinet door before anything is ordered. Designers can bring a client’s finish schedule, and seams, overhangs and edges are drawn before the template visit.
In a full remodel, granite is the last big piece to go in. The base cabinets have to be in and level before anyone measures for stone, so the countertop date follows the cabinet schedule. Planning both with one team keeps those dates tied together.
Choosing granite countertops in Dallas
Five choices shape a granite countertop, and one showroom appointment is usually enough to make them.
Book a free consultation at 2042 Irving Blvd, Suite 110, and compare granite by appointment beside the cabinet door and pulls you have in mind. Bring a flooring sample and your designer if you have one.
Will Crowe, who owns Cabinet IQ of Dallas, runs every granite job in a set order. The slab and your sink and cooktop models are settled before the template is booked, so nothing is cut on a guess.
Most granite falls into a handful of color groups. Whites and pale grays with gentle veining sit naturally beside painted cabinets and help a smaller kitchen feel open. Black granite gives a solid, quiet surface that works with painted doors and rift-cut white oak.
Warm golds and browns suit stained wood and the traditional trim in many Park Cities homes. Narrow your picks in the showroom, then hold a sample in your own kitchen in the afternoon. Strong Texas sun through a big window can wash out a pale stone that looked rich indoors.
You lean on the edge and wipe it every day, so pick it for how it feels as much as how it looks. An eased edge keeps a square profile with the sharp corner taken off. It looks clean in a modern kitchen and wipes off in one pass. A half bullnose rounds only the top corner, keeping a crisp line underneath while sparing hips and elbows.
An ogee adds an S-shaped curve suited to a traditional kitchen, though crumbs settle in the curve. A mitered edge glues a second strip of granite to the front at a 45-degree joint, so a 3 cm slab appears much thicker. It’s also how a waterfall end meets the top of an island.
Polishing brings out the depth of the color and the full pattern, and it closes the surface so spills are slower to soak in. That’s why most kitchen granite is polished.
Honing leaves a matte, velvety surface that suits period and modern kitchens alike. Oily fingerprints show up on it faster, and it tends to need resealing sooner. Leathering adds a fine texture you can feel under your hand. It hides water spots and smudges, so it works well on dark granite in a busy family kitchen.
Stone suppliers grade granite into price bands, which you may hear called groups or levels. Rarity drives most of it, along with the amount of veining and movement in the stone. A color that’s quarried in large volumes lands in a lower band, and a scarce stone with dramatic movement lands near the top.
A higher band buys a rarer look, not a stronger counter. On top of the band, the total grows with square footage, the edge you pick, each sink and cooktop cutout, and a full-height backsplash. If you’re a builder working to an allowance, there’s usually a lower-band granite that suits the house, and the 3D rendering shows both options side by side ahead of the order.
Granite in Dallas homes
Most Dallas kitchens can take granite, but the house changes how it’s picked and set. These situations come up often across Dallas and the towns around it:
| Your home | What it means for the granite |
|---|---|
| A Park Cities home in University Park or Highland Park | Warm or quiet granites in a honed or leathered finish suit period trim and painted cabinets. |
| A lake home in Rockwall, Heath or Rowlett facing Lake Ray Hubbard | Granite keeps its color in all-day sun where resin-based tops can yellow, which matters beside a wall of windows. |
| An older home whose foundation has moved on the area’s clay soil | Base cabinets are shimmed level before the template, because stone can’t flex over an uneven run and may crack. |
| A new build in Forney or Wylie | Lower-band granites can match a builder’s allowance without settling for a stone you don’t like. |
Mention which of these describes your house at the consultation, since it changes which slabs are worth showing you.
Keeping granite looking new
Sealed granite needs little more than warm water, a few drops of dish soap and a soft microfiber cloth. Drying the surface after wiping keeps a polished finish free of streaks. Beyond that, a few habits do most of the work:
- Leave a small puddle of water near the sink to check the sealer, and reseal if the stone darkens within a few minutes
- Blot cooking oil, red wine and coffee as soon as they spill, with extra care around the range
- Avoid acidic or harsh cleaners such as vinegar, citrus sprays and bleach, which break down the sealer
- Set hot pots on a trivet out of habit, because granite takes the heat but the sealer weakens with repeated exposure
- Do your chopping on a board, which spares both the polish and your knife edges
For a mark that soap can’t shift, give us a call first. The right treatment depends on the stone and what caused the stain, and the wrong cleaner can dull the finish.
What your granite project includes
From template day to the last seam, your granite stays with our own team, measured, cut and set in house. We look over each seam and edge together before the crew packs up. It all begins with a free consultation, where a 3D rendering shows the granite in your kitchen, and every design passes our 57-point design Quality Assurance Check.
We’re licensed and insured, with over 20 years of experience in general contracting. You’ll buy the sink from your own supplier, so settle on the model before template day, because the cutout is sized to that exact sink.
Torn between granite and another stone?
Alongside granite, we cut and install quartzite, quartz and solid surface. Quartzite often has the marble-like veining designers ask for and is harder than marble. Set your final two beside your cabinet door, and the choice usually becomes clear.
View kitchen countertopsGranite countertops near Dallas
Our showroom sits on Irving Boulevard in the Design District. Our granite work covers all of Dallas plus these nearby towns:
University Park, Highland Park, Bluffview, Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, Heath, Wylie, Sunnyvale, Forney.
Frequently asked questions
It comes down to the granite’s price band, how many square feet you need, your edge choice and how many cutouts the layout has. For a ballpark on the whole kitchen first, the Dallas kitchen cost calculator gives an instant range.
Yes. The granite runs down one or both sides of the island and meets the top with a mitered edge. It uses more slab, so plan it before choosing a stone, since the veining should continue around the corner.
Yes. Designers and builders can bring clients to the Design District showroom to choose slabs. We then template and install around their schedule, so the job runs on a single timeline.
It can. A 4-inch splash in the same granite is the simplest option. Running the granite full height shows off its movement but eats into more slab, so decide before we measure for the template.
Rarely exactly. Granite varies from one quarry block to the next, so the same stone name can differ in tone. Bring a photo or a loose piece and compare it with the slabs available.
Yes, if both rooms are planned together. Cutting the vanity top from the same slabs as the kitchen keeps the color and veining matched across the house.